The Plagiarism Problem
Though Orange Range started off as a cover band, as many bands do, they continued to use copyrighted material for their songs later on. After the band's major debut, many of their early songs became quickly associated with other major artists, and allegations arose that Orange Range was engaging in plagiarism. The Internet swarmed around the allegations, and Yomiuri Weekly, Daily Gendai, and monthly Saizo all reported the band's plagiarism.
Orange Range's most controversial song in regards to the plagiarism problem was "Locolotion". The beginning melody, and title, was extremely similar to Gerry Goffin and Carole King's song "The Loco-motion". A media frenzy ensued when Orange Range did not acknowledge the original artists on the credits of the single. Then, making the situation worse, Naoto stated blatantly in an interview with magazine Bounce "Our slogan is, 'Rip off!' (laugh). We start out with covers, then we discuss stuff, like, let's obfuscate this part or people are going to notice(laugh)."
An English translation on the incident brings more information about Naoto's incendiary comments; "In an interview with Rockin' On, he [Naoto] mentioned that his father had him listen to Grand Funk Railroad's cover version of "The Loco-motion" not long before the band recorded its own hit song, "Locolotion'. When the interviewer asked 'What? Was that why you created 'Locolotion?',' he replied, 'Yeah. That was before we merged it with Shampoo (laugh).' (Shampoo probably refers to "Trouble" performed by the UK group, Shampoo.)" Some fans feel Naoto's comments were bad attempts at humor, others claimed that Orange Range was stealing old tunes and selling them under their young image; either way, the media firestorm that ensued had little mercy on Naoto and the band.
Orange Range faced possible lawsuits and thus finally put proper credits on their single, but they failed to acknowledge officially that they had engaged in plagiarism, and they later called "Locolotion" a cover song as an excuse. At the 55th NHK Kōhaku Uta Gassen; the credits for "Locolotion" appeared with Carole King and Gerry Goffin for the Music and Lyrics, while Orange Range was accredited for the Japanese lyrics.
However, "Locolotion" was not the band's only plagiarism problem. The band faced criticism for ripping off "Monkey Magic" from the same titled song sang by GODIEGO, and "Orange Boat" was ripped from Harrry Belafonte's "Banana Boat" song. Further more, the remix to "Locolotion" had to endure proper accrediting, which was a mess.
Ultimately, Orange Range failed to handle the problem initially and were attacked for that reason. They treated the problem as a joke at first, which caused people to think the band ripped songs purposefully and out of malice. Yet Orange Range is well behind this dark point in their early history, and one could say they were simply too noticeable and thus their plagiarism was noticed while other band's similar tactics go under the radar.
Orange Range not only plagiarized occasionally, but also had its songs plagiarized. On May 12, 2011, YouTube user Micheal Aronson, who lives in Korea, noticed distinct similarities between Korean pop duo NORAZO's song "사나이 순정" and Orange Range's song "Onegai! Señorita". The Korean duo was not investigated for these allegations.
Orange Range's most controversial song in regards to the plagiarism problem was "Locolotion". The beginning melody, and title, was extremely similar to Gerry Goffin and Carole King's song "The Loco-motion". A media frenzy ensued when Orange Range did not acknowledge the original artists on the credits of the single. Then, making the situation worse, Naoto stated blatantly in an interview with magazine Bounce "Our slogan is, 'Rip off!' (laugh). We start out with covers, then we discuss stuff, like, let's obfuscate this part or people are going to notice(laugh)."
An English translation on the incident brings more information about Naoto's incendiary comments; "In an interview with Rockin' On, he [Naoto] mentioned that his father had him listen to Grand Funk Railroad's cover version of "The Loco-motion" not long before the band recorded its own hit song, "Locolotion'. When the interviewer asked 'What? Was that why you created 'Locolotion?',' he replied, 'Yeah. That was before we merged it with Shampoo (laugh).' (Shampoo probably refers to "Trouble" performed by the UK group, Shampoo.)" Some fans feel Naoto's comments were bad attempts at humor, others claimed that Orange Range was stealing old tunes and selling them under their young image; either way, the media firestorm that ensued had little mercy on Naoto and the band.
Orange Range faced possible lawsuits and thus finally put proper credits on their single, but they failed to acknowledge officially that they had engaged in plagiarism, and they later called "Locolotion" a cover song as an excuse. At the 55th NHK Kōhaku Uta Gassen; the credits for "Locolotion" appeared with Carole King and Gerry Goffin for the Music and Lyrics, while Orange Range was accredited for the Japanese lyrics.
However, "Locolotion" was not the band's only plagiarism problem. The band faced criticism for ripping off "Monkey Magic" from the same titled song sang by GODIEGO, and "Orange Boat" was ripped from Harrry Belafonte's "Banana Boat" song. Further more, the remix to "Locolotion" had to endure proper accrediting, which was a mess.
Ultimately, Orange Range failed to handle the problem initially and were attacked for that reason. They treated the problem as a joke at first, which caused people to think the band ripped songs purposefully and out of malice. Yet Orange Range is well behind this dark point in their early history, and one could say they were simply too noticeable and thus their plagiarism was noticed while other band's similar tactics go under the radar.
Orange Range not only plagiarized occasionally, but also had its songs plagiarized. On May 12, 2011, YouTube user Micheal Aronson, who lives in Korea, noticed distinct similarities between Korean pop duo NORAZO's song "사나이 순정" and Orange Range's song "Onegai! Señorita". The Korean duo was not investigated for these allegations.